in zurich

looking up at the paintings on the bridge in lucerne...lovely flowers in all colours

on the bridge in lucerne....

the swans on the riverr and marianna and ganapathy on the bridge

on the cable car going over the glacier... it is very steep and the sight and feeling is awesome

thats me and ganapthy starting of the toboganing...i think thats what is called.... marrianna on the slopes....

the sitting buddha on the mountain and on titlis a cut out of srk ... in the movie.... almost 50 % of the tourists here are indian...

this is in down town zurich.... in front of the bank where soooo much indian money must be...

the streets are full of such amazing cars and bikes... ferraris, bmws, convertibles, audis... they zoom past so fast cant capture them... marrianna and me in the boat which we took down zurich lake

the lake and the water fountains which are all over the city with cold cold drinking water

i almost totally gave up trqing to figure out how to get into my blog in english..... truely the one thing i have learnt tha whilst in europe you must have your own laptop or notebook.... it is far too complicated to figure out how to change the programmes from one language to another.... there must be a simple way... but i have yet not found it.... so before somehow this gets lost let me write ad dsome pictures and not try and be too ambitious about blogging.....

took a 10 hours train trip from prague to munchen, munich and then to zurich.... it has been sunny sunny sunny almost 34 degrees in the afternoon...so marianne is telling me that i have brought indian weather cause it has never been so hot here.... so we have been having a great time, since she is taking me around and it is so nice to be walking around and making jokes together...

its amazing, the place switzerland is so small... we went for a walk from her apt, and within half an hour we were in a place which had wineyards, and horses, and apple trees and forests.... we actually ate fresh apples plucked from the trees..... and this is 30 minutes walk from ok, a suburb but a 20 minute tram ride into main zurich.

took a boat ride down the lake of zurich... what an immense lake, and so clear the water...some amazing houses all with boats on the river front..... because of great weather the entire river side is full of people swimming .... man sail boats out, and motor boats with water skiing......

the next day we head to the mountain...we con siderred the glacier express, but marianne convinced me that a 9 hour tain ride is not so much fun..so we go to titlis, which is about 2 hours away.... we take 4 cable cars up to about 10000 feet... the last one over a glacier and then we go with these sledges down a steep slope on ice... she doesnt want to come and is real happy that we have made freinds with ganapathy...who is from chennai, and is come for some project with seimens..... we have a great time screaming as we plunge down the slope... great fun...

then to Lucerne, which is such a delightful city. village.... we go down the historic bridge which had burnt down and has been restored to what it was earlier.....

there is so much restoration here .... every thing wich is old, looks great and is not half in ruins, or decayed... this part of europe has so much history and am learning a lot.... especially about the wars and how it affected people....

also see how small enterprises come up around all types of tourist activity.... cycles,motor scooters, almost anything on rent.... and just about every small activity has a tourist angle.... for eg chocolate factory... the guide book says we can visit lindt... but when we try find out we are told it is no longer available since after joining the eu, the rules say tourism is not allowed into food industries....oh well

there are water fountains all over... statues which have water flowing to fill up waterbottles...... there is so much water so many lakes all around.... marianna says they use drinking water to flush the toilets....

lovely swans and ducks in the lakes ... we feed them everyday

now to try add photos